U.S. Naval Torpedo Station, Alexandria was a facility of the United States Navy, located in Alexandria, Virginia, that existed from 1918 to 1945. After its closure, it was redeveloped into the Torpedo Factory Art Center. [1]
U.S. Naval Torpedo Station, Alexandria was a facility of the United States Navy, located in Alexandria, Virginia, that existed from 1918 to 1945. After its closure, it was redeveloped into the Torpedo Factory Art Center. [1]
On November 12, 1918, the U.S. Navy began constructing a torpedo factory in Alexandria, named the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station. Over the next five years it was responsible for the manufacture and maintenance of torpedoes, and it subsequently served as a munitions storage area until World War II. As the demand for weapons dramatically increased during the war, it resumed production activity and was substantially expanded with ten new buildings. A green Mark XIV torpedo manufactured in the factory in 1945 is still on display. The station was commanded by Robert W. Hayler until June 1942 and then by Captain Robert B. Simons until the end of War. [1]
After World War II, production ceased, and the factory was used throughout the 1950s and 1960s by the Smithsonian Institution, which stored art and paleontological items there, and by Congress for storing documents. In 1969, the president of the Art League, Marian Van Landingham, proposed to adapt the building into studios for working artists. Following the approval of the commission, the factory was purchased by the City of Alexandria from the federal government, and it was reopened as the Torpedo Factory Art Center. [1]
A PT boat was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the war by ineffective torpedoes, limited armament, and comparatively fragile construction that limited some of the variants to coastal waters. In the USN they were organized in Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons (MTBRONs).
The Naval Aircraft Factory (NAF) was established by the United States Navy in 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was created to help solve aircraft supply issues which faced the Navy Department upon the entry of the U.S. into World War I. The US Army’s requirements for an enormous quantity of airplanes created a decided lack of interest among aircraft manufacturers in the Navy's requirements for a comparatively small quantity of aircraft. The Navy Department concluded that it was necessary to build a Navy-owned aircraft factory in order to assure a part of its aircraft supply; to obtain cost data for the department’s guidance in its dealings with private manufacturers; and to have under its own control a factory capable of producing experimental designs.
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare. It is one of the corporate laboratories of the Naval Sea Systems Command. NUWC is headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island and has two major subordinate activities: Division Newport and Division Keyport in Keyport, Washington. NUWC also controls the Fox Island facility and Gould Island. It employs more than 4,400 civilian and military personnel, with budgets over $1 billion.
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Naval Base San Diego, which locals refer to as 32nd Street Naval Station, is the second largest Surface Ship base of the United States Navy and is located in San Diego, California. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet, consisting of over 50 ships and over 190 tenant commands. The base is composed of 13 piers stretched over 977 acres (3.95 km2) of land and 326 acres (1.32 km2) of water. The total on base population is over 24,000 military personnel and over 10,000 civilians.
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Gunnery Sergeant Robert Howard McCard, a United States Marine, received the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for his actions during the Battle of Saipan in World War II.
The Mark 14 torpedo was the United States Navy's standard submarine-launched anti-ship torpedo of World War II. This weapon was plagued with many problems which crippled its performance early in the war. It was supplemented by the Mark 18 electric torpedo in the last two years of the war. Nonetheless, the Mark 14 played a major role in the devastating blow U.S. Navy submarines dealt to the Japanese naval and merchant marine forces during the Pacific War.
The Gorgon missile family was a series of experimental air-to-air, air-to-surface, and surface-to-surface missiles developed by the United States Navy's Naval Aircraft Modification Unit between 1943 and 1953. The immaturity of the technology involved meant that none of the Gorgon missiles achieved operational service, however they were extensively used in the development of guided missile controls and guidance technologies.
HMS Warwick (D25) was an Admiralty W-class destroyer built in 1917. She saw service in both the First and Second World Wars, before being torpedoed and sunk in February 1944.
A Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) is an armament depot dedicated to supplying the Royal Navy. They were sister depots of Royal Naval Cordite Factories, Royal Naval Torpedo and Royal Naval Mine Depots. The only current RNAD is RNAD Coulport, which is the UK Strategic Weapon Facility for the Trident Missile System.
Torpedo Factory Art Center is a naval munitions factory that was converted into an art center on the banks of the Potomac River in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. The facility is located at 105 N. Union Street, near the eastern end of King Street.
USS Herreshoff No. 323 (SP-2840), also written Herreshoff #323, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1918 to 1927.
Naval Ordnance Station Forest Park (NOSF) was in Forest Park, Illinois. It was founded during World War II (1942-1945) as Naval Ordnance Plant Forest Park (NOPF). The Forest Park Station was instrumental in building torpedoes for the Navy, employing up to 6,500 workers and producing 19,000 torpedoes. Torpedo production was halted in 1945 and research and development was performed until the main plant was shuttered and converted into a mall in 1971. The remaining facilities were turned into a Naval Reserve Center until it was finally closed in April 2007.
Henry C. Mustin Naval Air Facility, also known as Mustin Field, is a former military airfield located at the United States Navy Naval Aircraft Factory on board the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was in service from 1926 to 1963.
Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Lewiston, located at Lewiston, Maine, is a closed facility of the United States Navy, and was established as one of five air facilities to support Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, during World War II.
The Torpedo Experimental Establishment (T.E.E.) also known as the Admiralty Torpedo Experimental Establishment was a former research department of the British Department of Admiralty from 1947 to 1959. It was responsible for the design, development and production of torpedoes for the Royal Navy. In 1959 its work and staff merged with the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment. The department was administered by the Superintendent, Torpedo Experiment and Design.
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